Female Millennials Are Really Smart. Man-Boy Dumb.

"Coaching changed my business and my life."

I hated school with a passion. It took everything my parents had in them to keep me from dropping out of high school and taking the GED exam. I was 18 at the time and realized a few years earlier that everything I was required to learn was an absolute waste of my time.

Biology? Stupid. I don’t dissect frogs for a living.

Trigonometry? It’s amazing how often I don’t use that either.

History? Well, I’ll concede that while I hated this in school, I actually enjoy it now. Chalk it up to crappy teachers.

Warren Buffet, the world’s greatest investor, said it perfectly when he told his shareholders, “If calculus or algebra were required to be a great investor, I’d have to go back to delivering newspapers.”

I reminded Rob that I’m a Millennial and a “debate” seemed to imply there would be a winner and a loser. Since we didn’t keep score growing up, this offended my delicate sensibilities so I suggested a blog “conversation” instead. [NOTE: In all honesty, I personally love to debate but that’s a personality trait that goes against the majority of my generation and I just like to make fun of us.]

Rob kicked off the debate conversation with a post on Millennials and Family Formation which you can read by clicking that link. It’s well-written and, because Rob is substantially more educated than I am, he uses a lot of really big words like “hypergamy” that I had to Google in order to understand.

In all seriousness, you really should read it because he raises some very interesting points about the future of the family based on a number of trends. For those pressed for time, I’ll do my best to summarize Rob’s main point and provide you with my response.

Female Millennials Are Really Smart. Man-Boy Dumb.

Before I jump into Rob’s points (no, the above header is not one of his arguments), I need to share a few stats with you. If your eyes easily glaze over when you read stats, feel free to jump ahead.

60% of college students are women

60% of adults holding advanced degrees are women

Women are 1.5 times more likely to graduate college than men

In knowledge-based economies such as Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Seattle, women out-earn men (they flipped the income gap)

99% of all men are dumb (okay, I just made that one up to see if you’re still with me)

Rob’s Point: Hot, Educated Women Won’t Marry Hot, Uneducated Men

Okay, that may be a bit simplistic. However, in Rob’s own words, “Women throughout the known human history have always, always, always sought to marry up. This has been true of every human society, East and West, North and South, of every language, every culture, every religion.”

Poor, hot, dumb man-boy will never find a spouse. Sorry, I’m not buying it and here’s why:

Rob defines “up” as “college-educated” when “up” should mean “ability to provide for the family.” Now, most people will point to stats that show that a college degree will earn you more money over the course of a lifetime.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that those are historical trends based on educations that people received in decades past. They are not indicators of what’s to come in the future.

A College Degree Is Overrated

Let me state this clearly: college is not an indicator of future success regardless of what the colleges tell you. Does this mean you shouldn’t go to college? That depends. Do I think doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers should go to college? Of course. Do you need a college degree to start a business or succeed in business? Nope.

And by the way, do I care if my doctor took two years of a Spanish and received a “C” each time? Of course not. Let’s not kid ourselves and let’s call a spade a spade. Colleges are businesses and the goal of any business is to get more customers and keep them for longer periods of time. Otherwise, a doctor would just take “doctor” courses.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what appeared in a USA Today piece called Is College Overrated?:

In a paper about to be released by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Arnold Packer, co-director of the landmark study “Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century,” points out that in 2018 — as is the case today — two of three jobs in America will not require either a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or an associate degree from a community college.

Jobs in health care and social assistance, leisure and hospitality, retail trade and so-called middle-skill jobs such as plumbers, electricians, legal assistants and police officers will require job specific licenses or certificates from community colleges or technical institutes, and/or on the job training. In fact, many graduates of four-year colleges are now enrolled in community colleges to get the specific training and licensure for jobs for which college did not prepare them.

So, contrary to Rob’s claim that a college degree is needed to be successful, the jobs of the future are becoming less-and-less dependent on a 22-year-old’s ability to pass the course “Arguing With Judge Judy” – a real course offered at that bastion of higher learning, UC Berkley.

Anecdotally, one of the dumbest financial decisions I ever made was to go back to college and complete my degree (yeah, I dropped out of USC when I was 21). At the time I decided to return, I was in my mid-20’s and making well into the six-figures. Never once has that stupid thing helped me. And nobody ever asks me about it except those who like to talk about their degrees at fancy dinner parties.

In his book, The Millionaire Mind, Dr. Thomas Stanley interviewed and studied people with a net worth over $10 Million to find out what made them successful. What he found is that SAT scores, class rank, grade levels, and college degrees – measurements we use for college admission and determining who will be successful – were statistically insignificant in determining success unless the person was a doctor, lawyer or participated in a career in which a degree is required by state mandates in order to practice.

College (And School) Is Designed For Girls

I figure that, since I’m attacking a valued institution, I may as well finish the job and leave nothing out.

If you’re one of those people who don’t see differences in the genders, feel free to hate me in the comments at the bottom of this post. But the fact remains that men and women are gloriously different. Studies show that men and women learn differently from one another and that school is the playground of girls.

It follows that women would excel at a game designed by them and for them. However, as anyone who works for a living can attest to, school is not the “real world” and it takes more to succeed than the ability to get good grades.

Does this mean that women are ill-equipped for “the real world”? Of course not. But don’t confuse them being highly educated with them being necessarily more prepared than their male counterparts.

On the whole, the gender gap still favors men despite all of the education of women and, if the study quoted by the USA Today is correct, all the 4-year degrees and PhDs won’t change that.

Without a doubt (and as I said in my talk), Millennial women are a force to be understood and appreciated. They are going to be very successful and be a large contributor to the family finances (if not the largest contributor in some families). I’m just not prepared to concede that the economy will continue to reward 4-year degrees and advanced education in the same way that it has in the past.

The Devaluation of the College Degree

Do you know why college degrees used to be so important? Because very few people had them. If you had one, it meant that you were special and different from those competing for a position inside of a company.

Colleges used this to market the need for a degree. They’ve created courses and programs that have little to no bearing on your ability to succeed and they’ve convinced people they need to go into serious debt to pay for it.

Did you know that it takes nearly 17 years on average to work of the cost of a 4 year degree? I would bet that if you took that same graduate and showed them how to succeed without a degree, the numbers in favor of attending college might make it look like a bad joke.

You see, college people love to compare their salaries with the people who didn’t go to college. That’s where the stats come from. But it’s the person holding the degree who succeeded, not the degree as pointed out by Dr. Thomas Stanley. Except in the case of professions with mandated degrees, those people would have had the same level of success without their degrees.

There’s also the problem that when more people hold college degrees, they become less valuable because everyone has them. That’s why a Honda is worth less than a Ferrari. Scarcity drives up value. That’s why more and more colleges are trying to convince people to come back and get advanced degrees. The problem is that most people realize they don’t need advanced degrees right around the time they’re finishing up their “basic” degree.

You Are Not A Walking Calculator

The reality is that you don’t select spouses based solely on their education. Sure, it’s a factor, but our attraction to others is multi-dimensional. At no point in time do we run financial calculations on each person we meet.

We look at personality, character, beliefs, work ethic, family values, education – and yes – appearance. Education is great. I continue to read an incredible amount and I have hundreds and hundreds of books. Learning is not something you do once in college and then stop. It continues throughout your lifetime.

However, we shouldn’t elevate one criteria above all the others and say that a woman or a man is “marrying down” simply because they chose someone who doesn’t share the same level of education as they do.

What Do You Think?

I’ll step off the soapbox now. I want to know what you think. The floor is yours so leave a comment below. All I ask is that you be cool to one another or I might nuke your comments.

I’ll defend your point of view. One of my friends has a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education. After marrying her husband she stopped teaching (partially because they had a baby who was born with a terminal illness and partially because she didn’t need to work.) She now stays at home with their two smaller children and juggles the schedule of his older child from a previous marriage. They have a really, obscenely nice house and he only works 4 hours a day.

Travis, nice work pulling in Stanley’s research! Also, here is another book that may be of interest as this deba-versation continues, “Rethinking the MBA,” which states “Employers are hiring undergraduates and promoting from within, and then suggesting that their best young people stick around rather than return to school for additional business training.” As corporations turn more and more to their own internal training programs, I expect advanced degrees will lose their “status” and commensurate compensation boost, favoring those with the most up to date knowledge and experience (no longer offered in the ivory towers).

So much of what colleges and advanced degree programs teach is far outdated by the conclusion of the program (a leading reason I have opted out of returning to school for my MBA), and the education one can gain by actually “doing” the work is far more rewarding, up-to-date, and frankly it pays better. This leaves us with a pile of Benjamins and an education rather than a pit of debt and some outdated knowledge about how the banking system, marketing (a-la twitter), journalism, international affairs, etc. “used to” work.

All that said, I am thrilled with my decision to continue learning by doing, supplementing with the most recent studies, books, and blogs. It looks like it is paying off for me too as my “Senior Trip” to apply my business knowledge on an international scale seems to be coming to fruition in my current role. China, here I come!

Thank you, Niles! I’m going to have to check that book out. I appreciate the recommendation!

You’re absolutely right. The amount of money that it takes to get a degree anymore is absurd and not really worth it when we think about the fact that education continues post-graduation in our daily lives. That companies are investing in their employees through better training is truly a win-win for both parties.

Like you said, the world is changing at such a rapid rate that our education system is having a hard time staying relevant. I’m very intrigued by this book. I’ll be moving it to the top of my list. 🙂

Congrats on heading to China! I’m interested to hear more about what you’re going to be doing over there.

First, you know from talking with me that I agree 100% on the value of higher education. I’m a big fan of Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) when he talks about the Higher Education Bubble. And speaking as someone who got the fancy degrees from fancy institutions, and is still paying back the damn student loans, you know I’m wholly sympathetic to your point. Have I ever used my seminar on Kantian epistemology from Yale in any of my jobs? No, never.

Having said that, however, I think you talk a lot about the (lack of) value of education to set up a counterfactual that does not directly address the issue I raised in the Family Formation post. The counterfactual is that historical data — and present-day data — shows at least a correlation between education levels and income. The Census Bureau data shows this very clearly. It may be that as you say, in the future, college degrees won’t mean a damn thing. On the other hand, it may be that in the future, shariah law will replace the Constitution. Both are equally counterfactual.

College may not matter at all in the future, or it may be all-important in the future. Both are possible. (At the same time, you may not care that your doctor got a C- on English Poets, but you probably would care that he went to a properly accredited medical school….)

So the real answer is contained here:

The reality is that you don’t select spouses based solely on their education. Sure, it’s a factor, but our attraction to others is multi-dimensional. At no point in time do we run financial calculations on each person we meet.

We look at personality, character, beliefs, work ethic, family values, education – and yes – appearance. Education is great. I continue to read an incredible amount and I have hundreds and hundreds of books. Learning is not something you do once in college and then stop. It continues throughout your lifetime.

I think you’re making two mistakes here. One, you’re simply ignoring evolutionary psychology; the point of evo-psych is not that women are consciously calculating income figures when selecting a mate. The point is that over the course of thousands of years, human females tend to value those attributes that suggest that the male will provide for her and her future offspring. You’re right that attraction is multi-dimensional (unless you’re a follower of someone like like RooshV, at least); but you’re ignoring that those multiple dimensions may (and likely are) dictated by evo-psych.

In other words, “marrying up” isn’t all about money. It’s about higher social status; that usually connects with money, but doesn’t have to. I can believe that a woman will marry a man who doesn’t make as much money as she does; I do not believe that a woman will marry a man of lower social value, at least in large numbers. I have close friends who are doctors and lawyers who make ten times what their husbands make, but their husbands are professors and teachers and artists and musicians. They are of equal (or superior) social status, even if of lower income. That happens all the time, and has happened throughout history. What has not happened, and what does not happen today, is women marrying (not dating, not hooking up with, but MARRYING) lower status men. Lawyers with baristas, doctors with waiters, VP’s of corporations with used car salesmen, etc. — that phenomenon is wholly unknown, at least in large numbers.

Which is your second mistake. You’re extrapolating from your own experience and generalizing it into the whole generation. I’ve already conceded that exceptions exist; you’re an extraordinary person of real intellect, curiosity, force of personality, and charisma. You’d have been successful whatever the piece of paper says. But are you willing to suggest that literally millions of other Millenial men are similarly charismatic, similarly intelligent, similarly driven? That the reason they didn’t go to college is because they too were simply bored with unimportant stuff?

Since we’re having dialogue about an entire generation, we have to be talking in terms of hundreds of thousands, of millions of people. Some stats: 59% of Millenials either have a college degree, or are in school – so that’s roughly 48 million of the 80 million total. 60% of them are women – or 28.8 million vs. 19.2 million men. Dude, that’s a gap of 9.6 million in Gen-Y. You mentioned that you continue to read an incredible amount and have hundreds upon hundreds of books; what percentage of these 10 million Millenial men without college degrees can say the same? And if they’re not reading, not educating themselves, not driven the way you are… doesn’t that change the picture?

Because when it comes to family formation issues, I’m not concerned about Travis Robertson doing family formation; you’re married, you’re awesome, you’re just fine. I’m concerned about the generation as a whole.

So given the “college education is overrated” piece, how do you see this gap of 10 million being closed?

As someone with a degree . . . I totally agree! I went to school for four years, then got married, and started my family. Everytime I attempted to use my degree as leverage, to get a job, some ‘way too young’ person, would say “Do you know how many applicants I have that are even better qualified than you?”

Incidentally, I read that article On-line in USA TODAY, and all could think was, “Where the heck were you with this “nugget” back in ’82, when I labored to stay in school – although I’m not sure I would’ve even believed them back then, as ‘COLLEGE=SUCCESS’ was drummed into our heads, and no one was insightful enough to realize “colleges are businesses”, and have always been pretty good at “marketing” their product . . . anyway, 19 years later, the only thing I have to show for my Liberal Arts Degree is what’s hanging on the wall 🙂 Thanks Travis, Gigi.

I enjoyed reading this, but it seems to me that you have two arguments going at once. The first argument is about the classic college degree = success formula and the second is about how women select their spouses. I see the parallels you’re drawing from one argument to the next, but still feel each argument stands alone.

In regard to women and their choice in spouses, I agree with Notorious R.O.B.’s point, “In other words, “marrying up” isn’t all about money. It’s about higher social status; that usually connects with money, but doesn’t have to.”

When women choose partners, something innately tells us to look for certain qualities, chalk it up to evolution and our basic drive to procreate with assurance of stability. According to David Buss, psychology researcher at the University of Texas, studies conclude that women look to fulfill four categories when selecting a partner: 1) good genes, reflected in desirable physical traits, 2) resources,3) the desire to have children and good parenting skills, and 4) loyalty and devotion.

Interestingly, Buss also states that, “When reviewing the qualities they desire in romantic partners, women gauge what they can get based on what they got,” he also says, “And women who are considered physically attractive maintain high standards for prospective partners across a variety of characteristics.” This can all be found in his essay published in Evolutionary Psychology called “Attractive Women Want it All: Good Genes, Economic Investment, Parenting Proclivities and Emotional Commitment”. If the latter statement is true, women who are educated and of a certain social level will look to marry those who mirror such qualities, and also men who fulfill the 4 categories.

Let’s be honest, we can look to our own friends and family for proof. How many times do you hear women say they decided to date a guy because “he had a good sense of humor”, “he is close to his family”, or “he is a lawyer, doctor, banker, etc.”? And how many times have you heard your male friends say they decided to date a girl “because she is smoking hot”? Really, I believe women are motivated to choose partners that are at or above their social level and men are more motivated by looks. Perhaps that is why the majority of plastic surgery procedures are performed on women (to enhance beauty and desirability) and the majority of sports cars are bought by men (to enhance appearance of status and desirability)?

Now onto the college debate. I went to college. I did not love college. However, college really did open up a lot of doors for me and it opens up doors for others, too. I used to intern in Human Resources for 2 Fortune 500 companies. When considering hundreds to thousands of applicants, guess what happens, they categorize resumes.

First, they separate college completed from non-college completed resumes to narrow the list of applicants. If there are still too many applicants (especially for entry level positions), they sort above 3.5 GPA from below 3.5 GPA. Guess who gets called in for interviews?

I can’t say what will happen in 2018, but I can tell you how companies, hospitals, institutions, etc. recruit today – and it is all about filtering candidates. In fact, millions of dollars are spent on software that sorts resumes for HR to make the screening process easier. Unfortunately, when you apply for a job, they are looking for people who meet requirements. While they can tell a bit about you from your resume, it is not likely that they will pick up on the fact that you’re charismatic or a visionary – if you don’t have a degree, they mean even assume you’re not ambitious – even if you’re the hardest working person. It’s the degree that gets you in the door, and for that reason, I feel it is still important in today’s world and will continue to be.

One a side note, I’d really like to see some concrete data on why people choose not to go to college. Is it because they find it to be a waste of time? Or, is it because they can’t afford it or simply don’t want to? That would be interesting to know. We can’t assume all people who don’t go to college are ambitious and mirror the same great qualities you have, Travis.

One last thought, the millenials that are making a great deal of money right now are thriving in a tech/product driven world. This is a world perfectly suited to start-ups, entrepreneurs, and dreamers. The possibility to earn a great deal of money by coming up with the next best thing exists, but how often does it happen and how many people make millions? How often does a Facebook come along? How often does a Google get invented?

And, when these products do get invented and increase in popularity, who gets hired to run the finances, legalities, etc.? I’m guessing lawyers and business people with degrees from well-recognized institutions. Mark Zuckerberg isn’t a fool, ha ha!

Interesting debate. As a Female Gen Y with a Master’s Degree (and all the debt that goes with it), I really want to be offended. But, I simply can’t. I don’t want to think that my degree was a waste of time, but being unemployed right now makes it hard to believe that. I am encountering several situations where I am losing jobs to individuals with more experience, even if they have less education than me (I’m in Human Resources). I think that education is definitely important, but until they find a way to teach the “real world” stuff in school, it will never be as good.

I recently read on a job posting that experience could be substituted for education, at a rate of 2 yrs exp for every 1 yr of education. Unfortunately, several recruiters I have spoken with tell me that when they have a choice, they prefer the experience over the education. In this economy, that means that I (and probably lots of other Gen Y) are looking at lower-level jobs in order to be employed. While I have personal reasons why I am not opposed to this (I want a strong mentor), it is a little disheartening, especially when I look at my student loan balances.

On your other point, I do want to add that I am a Gen Y who “married down.” I was working on a master’s when I met my husband (M), a college dropout working in a call center. I was drawn to him for two reasons. One: he liked to play Trivial Pursuit (my favorite game). Two: he gave me emotional support during a family emergency. Neither of these reasons have anything to do with social status. In fact, shortly after I started dating my future-husband, I broke ties with my ex boyfriend (D) who graduated college with me and was in law school. Even thought my ex will probably earn way more than my husband during our lifetime, I know D would never be there for me emotionally the way M is. My choice was purely emotional, and I don’t regret it one bit.

As a side note, we do have plans to get my husband back in school to complete his degree, mainly for the point AmberK mentioned above: he can’t get past job screenings without it. We’re doing one of those Adult Degree Completion things, because the coursework doesn’t matter as much as the degree itself. Eventually he may go back and get an advanced degree, but even if he doesn’t, I won’t care.

Quite agree… you forgot to add circumstances, emotional availability, timing, and of course booze to that list! (and i’ve dated a few too many ivy leaguers who were definitely dumb man boy)

there are no winners and losers anymore… that will affect my confidence and make me shoot random teachers and students at my school…although I was on the debate team in college… 🙂

thanks for the note on my blog post.. i think i need to be more daring and tell it like it is, the way you do!

Gerald

Very good man. There is a lot to be said: to me its a matter of your worth and not the worth schools or higher education puts on you. I always felt low on the totem poll because of my low educational but education is up to me. Today its so much easer to get an education just by going on line. If were measuring success by the number of degrees we can show and not by the depth of our reasoning and understanding then we truly are stupid.

I could honestly write a VERY long response to this post, but will settle for saying that you raise some extremely valid points (and this coming from a highly educated woman who does not really use her advanced degrees!).

One point I want to touch on is the fact that school is NOT designed for boys. Boys and girls learn in very different ways, and I see that every day with my daughter and son. I have been trying for years to get our local district to make teachers aware of this, because many are not. I have shared a wonderful book about learning and boys with several of my son’s teachers over the years, and it opened most of their minds. We would see a MUCH higher rate of success in school and with kids actually liking school if learning was gender-based. Sadly, this will never happen unless you send your kids to private school or single-gender schools.

Another good point you raised is the quality of teachers. Unfortunately there are more bad teachers than there are good ones. My son has had so many bad teachers in middle school that he has lost interest. Heading into high school this is a big concern (and why my husband and I are opting for non-traditional high school). We need to do away with tenure and hire teachers who truly are an asset to our children. We need to hold EVERY teacher and administrator accountable, every year. This is an issue that I feel passionate about but I will spare you a diatribe.

Thank you for reinforcing my argument with my Air Force Academy brother-in-law. Unless you are looking for a job specific degree (doctor, engineer etc) college is a place where you go to obtain knowledge. What you do with that knowledge will most likely determine your success in life, not the college degree. Add common sense and a hard work ethic with the knowledge you obtained from college and your chance of success increases tremendously.

Tedhawk777

Travis,

Great article man! I am actually more from the X generation, but I can see where all of this is going. I have a four year degree in Biology and Psychology. I have used the psychology part in jobs, but not to obtain a job. I have never worked in my degree field since I got the thing 15 years ago. Experience is really what is needed to succeed, especially in these times. I think we do a disservice to our young people when we push them all toward college. Teachers, faculty,and especially “guidance” counselors need to be much more adept and realizing where a child’s strengths lie, and encouraging them to go in that direction. We also need to ask more questions about what excites them, and steer them toward those things. Too many people are working in jobs they hate, paying back student loans for a degree they either barely achieved, or didn’t want, and wondering where it all went wrong. We need to empower this generation to make better choices than we did when it comes to their life’s work.

I’m right on the edge of Gen X/Y. Born in late 1975. My wife and I dropped out of college in 1997 with the feeling that the education/degrees we were pursuing weren’t really serving the intended purpose.

Education as several commenters have pointed out is still extremely important, and in here we have views from both sides, but I believe we are in a transitional period. Because of the slow shift it is easy to make arguments on both sides of this point and have them both be equally convincing, but I believe we are in the twilight years of needing a “college degree”

I also educated myself and will continue to do so. In regards to a degree and it’s relationship to earnings I really like what you pointed out, and I think the problem is the selection process. Filtering for degrees is easy because it is an institutionalized system and an easy criteria to select for. Understanding and selecting for the changing nature of how we educate ourselves is going to be the great challenge for business going forward.

Maybe because I am a girl, or that I had a satisfying college experience, but I think you are looking over the many benefits of going to college (besides just the degree). Do you really want to let a bunch of 18-year olds loose in the world? My high school certainly did not prepare me any sort of real-world work experience. College is that ideal time to figure out what sort of career paths are out there, get exposed to new ideas and meet hundreds or thousands of students and professors with different opinions than your own. In additional to all there is to learn in your studies.

I know plenty of dumb man-boys with smart girlfriends/wives, sometimes I don’t get it myself, but I don’t think this is the type of thing that can be so easily generalized…

Samantha

Thank sweet baby jesus that you said all that. 🙂 I had read the article that you were responding to, and wanted to smack him. Ya know, a little. Reading his thoughts, I thought, “There’s the weird inaccurate judgement we all see from every Gen Xer in our lives.” Our grandparents are anxious for degrees, our parents aren’t sure what to say(except that we’re special and awesome), but aunts, uncles, cousins, coworkers….They think everything that he said. Gross. I’m glad I read your accurate rebuttal. As an educated millenial that “married down”, I have to say that you are right. Picking a spouse is not an algorithm. My husband may not have a degree, but he has an entrepreneurial spirit, and he’s sexy as hell. THANK YOU!

Emma R

Ok, I know this an old-ass article, but I’ve been researching millenial men and figured I’d put my two cents into this article. I do not believe that universities are geared towards women. The concept of university was created in the Middle Ages for men and men alone and the “staid” atmosphere was even more intense. You would be expected to sit for hours and hours while copying notes from a monk’s lecture or memorizing things by rote. I think millenial men are too busy playing video games to get out there and get an education. Yes, you heard me. That it was I believe. I am an avid gamer myself, and I know how intoxicating and addicting it can be, but I was always able to control myself and stop playing for much of the semester. I am about to get my master’s degree. I don’t care so much about looks or income in men. I can support myself. What I want is an understanding and intelligent man. An educated man would be great, but if I could find an intelligent, mature hard worker without a degree I’d be fine with that. Unfortunately, like you mentioned in this article, there are simply a plethora of man babies who want to sit around all day and play video games. Could such a man possibly make a good father? My sister, who has her master’s in social work, is 28 and engaged to a man-boy like this. She brings home all the money. She is fine with him being a stay-at-home dad when they have kids, except lately he won’t pitch in around the house at all and it is just video games 24/7. This is a bigger problem than people realize in my opinion. I am bisexual so I have more options open that a lot of women, but I know many are probably frustrated by this.

Chris Cunningham

I agree, Emma. I’m one of those man-boys, but I have a big inheritance and I see one thing from the men around me: They have lost hope and respect for today’s society. I do not blame them because I totally understand: They grew up in the 80s and 90s – a completely different world and men don’t adjust to society as well as women because we are not as socially connected.